Hello everyone! My name is Ruben Lebron and I like to say that I come from both the heartland in Kansas - where I lived the past five years and which significantly shaped me - and also from my beloved island of Puerto Rico where I grew up. I am an Economist and Political Scientist and I am pursuing a Master’s degree in Strategic Governance and Political Communication at The George Washington University.

Our Democracy is fundamentally broken by a dangerous new era of fierce partisan divisions. The current system leaves many voters voiceless in the political process and depresses voter participation. We are left with a partisan division that may be hard to fix - but, it’s not impossible.

Growing up as the son of journalists, I was raised on a healthy diet of political arguments at the kitchen table. My passion for public policy came with a side of mashed potatoes. Despite my many attempts to change the topic to the playoff hopes of the Boston Red Sox, I could not successfully escape the “more important” issues facing our nation.

On May 27, 2017, Andrew Scheer, the Member of Parliament for Regina-qu’Appelle was elected as leader for the Canadian Conservative Party at the end of a thirteen month-long leadership race. The format of the leadership contest, ranked-choice voting (RCV), allowed a consensus candidate to emerge out of many controversial candidacies in order to represent a broad base of Conservatives. Scheer’s predecessor, Prime Minister Stephen Harper resigned following the Conservative Party loss in the 2015 federal elections. Following his resignation, the party appointed Rona Ambrose, a caucus member and former Minister of Health, Environment and Public Works, as interim leader until the permanent leader was appointed by the party’s members in a leadership contest.

Hello There! I’m Myeisha. My interest in politics began during my sophomore year of college when I was a Casework Intern for Senator Richard Blumenthal. This is where my passion for public service and advocacy emerged. I truly felt as though I was making a difference by communicating with government agencies on behalf of constituents.

When I was 14, I had my first experience with ranked choice voting (RCV). I was a freshman in high school in San Francisco, and we used it to elect my student body representatives. Given the city of San Francisco had been using RCV for every city election for nearly nine years, I was excited to be using it for our school elections. I saw it as a fair system that ensured the winners would have to appeal to larger portions of the student body in order to get elected. At the time, I was sure it would only be a few years before RCV was adopted in cities and states all over the US.

For the first time in Santa Fe, New Mexico history, there will be a full-time mayor elected in March of 2018 with additional powers, duties and a higher salary. It is important that the majority of Santa Fe voters elect the new mayor with ranked choice voting (RCV), an electoral reform that was approved by city voters 9 years ago and has yet to be implemented.

After a week-long election began on May 29, Ireland’s ruling party, Fine Gael, has elected Leo Varadkar as its next leader in the party’s first leadership election since outgoing leader Enda Kenny’s election in 2002.

While Asian American and Pacific Islanders (API) may be the smallest community in many jurisdictions, it is still the fastest growing and most diverse demographic in the country. API voters and their preferred candidates are particularly underrepresented by our current winner-take-all rules.